Thai Ex-Premier Abhisit Faces Murder Charges Over 2010 Crackdown

By Daniel Ten Kate and Supunnabul Suwannakij -
Dec 6, 2012

Former Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva faces murder charges for his role in responding to
protests in 2010, in the first case that aims to hold government
leaders accountable for the deaths of demonstrators.

The Department of Special Investigation, prosecutors and
police said in a statement yesterday that Abhisit and former
Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban authorized soldiers to
use weapons to crack down on demonstrators. Abhisit leads the
opposition after Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, whose party
backed the protests calling for an election, won a parliamentary
majority in a nationwide vote last year.

“Both of them issued a written order for soldiers with
weapons to fight with the demonstrators,” said Tharit Pengdit,
who heads the DSI, an agency under the Justice Ministry. “There
were documents that indicated Abhisit’s orders. Several actions
of those two persons led to the loss of lives.”

The move comes as Yingluck’s party considers how to proceed
with changing the constitution to give more power to
politicians, a move opposed by those who backed the 2006 coup
against her brother, ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra. Abhisit’s
party said the charges were aimed at forcing the opposition to
accept a broad amnesty bill that would include Thaksin, who has
lived overseas after fleeing a jail sentence that he says is
politically motivated.

Abhisit and Suthep are ready to fight any charges and the
party still opposes the amnesty bill, Chavanond
Intarakomalyasut, a spokesman for the Democrat Party, said in an
e-mailed statement.

“The DSI’s latest move is politically motivated,” he
said. “The charges against Abhisit and Suthep are another
attempt by the government in abusing its power against the
opposition. There was no order for the soldiers to kill any
innocent civilians.”

More than 90 people were killed in the protests in 2010.
Demonstrators known as the Red Shirts wanted Abhisit to call an
election after he took power in a 2008 parliamentary vote that
followed the dissolution of the pro-Thaksin ruling party because
of rules written after the coup.